Happy 120th Birthday, George Brent

George Brendan Nolan was born on this day in 1904 in Ballinsloe, County Galway, and he is today’s daytime star on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Handsome and debonair, he had a complicated childhood and adolescence involving being orphaned, moving to New York City, going back to Ireland, and becoming a courier for the Irish Republican Army. Allegedly he got into acting with Dublin’s Abbey Theatre Players only as cover for his IRA activities. Learning that his arrest was imminent, he left for Canada and made his way to the U.S. and Hollywood. (I couldn’t make this up, it’s in his biography.)

Under contract with Warner Brothers throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Brent often appeared with some of my favorite actresses. He was a good match for their strong personas and once said that all he needed was a good haircut since the audience only saw the back of his head, something of an exaggeration. He was Bette Davis’ favorite leading man on-screen (and sometimes off), appearing with her in 12 features. He co-starred with Kay Francis in 6 films and with Barbara Stanwyck in 5. I feel like Brent is best known for 42nd Street (1933), The Purchase Price (1932), Baby Face (1933), and Luxury Liner (1948), and I haven’t seen all of his films, but here’s some lesser-known ones that I like (chronological order):

So Big! (1932) — A Stanwyck vehicle, Brent’s not in it much. He plays the grownup version of a boy inspired by his teacher (Barbara Stanwyck) in 1920s rural Illinois. Based on the novel by Edna Ferber, it captures a time and a way of life.

Miss Pinkerton (1932) — An old dark house rom-com in which ever-charming Blondell plays a nurse sent into a mansion where a man allegedly committed suicide, Brent is the cop who asks her to go in because he thinks it’s murder. Based on a novel of the same name by Mary Roberts Rinehart.

The Keyhole (1933) — Anne Brooks (Francis) is being blackmailed, but her husband thinks she’s having an affair. She decides to try to escape the situation by taking a cruise to Cuba so Hubby sends a private investigator Neil Davis (Brent) to catch her in the act of adultery. Complications ensue. (If this sounds a bit familiar, it might be because Romance on the High Seas partially resembles it.)

A great little comedy/mystery, Front Page Woman (1935) stars Davis reporting a story incorrectly and having to fix it. Brent is her editor who thinks women don’t make good reporters, but of course, he is wrong.

Secrets of an Actress (1938) An actress (Francis) is seeking funding for her next show. She meets two architects (Brent and Ian Hunter). One agrees to back the production; both are in love with her.

The Rains Came (1939) — During a worse-than-usual rainy season in India, Tom Ransome (Brent), a mellow aristocrat, and ex-flame of Lady Edwina Esketh (Myrna Loy), is dealing with a sheltered teenager (Brenda Joyce) who has a crush on him and helping his best buddy, a surgeon who will one day rule India (Tyrone Power). Great-ish performances, high production values, and stunning cinematography make for a quality film.

My Reputation (1946)— Widow Jessica Drummond (Stanwyck) challenges the social norms of her stuffy mother, bratty kids, and snobbish social set when she meets Major Scott Landis (Brent). Quietly revolutionary in its assertion that a woman should live for herself.



31 Days of Oscar TCM Premieres

Turner Classic Movies is once again presenting 31 Days of Oscar, this year organized by nominees and winners in a different category each day. The channel has scheduled a bunch of films that have never graced TCM airwaves before, even venturing into the 21st century, which, in my unpopular opinion, is welcome addition. (This isn’t a new thing for me. I’ve been advocating for Future Classic Movies since 2012.) Most of the Oscar films are in heavy rotation year-round, and, as controversial as it may be, it’s nice to get some variety. Some titles like Gosford Park, The Triplets of Belleville, Far From Heaven, and Lincoln map obviously to classical genres, but all of these deserve a chance. Try one, you might like it. After all, even Wings (1927) was new once. More on the remaining premières after the jump

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THE HOLDOVERS: Everybody hurts

It looks and feels like it was made in the 1970s, and shares that decade’s fascination with outliers, for the main trio are nothing if not outliers. The premise, borrowed from the 1935 French film Merlusse, is thus: The year is 1970. At an all-boys boarding school in New England, an unpopular teacher, Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), is babysitting “the holdovers” over Christmas break. These are the kids who have nowhere to go and have to stay at school. Soon, through a series of fluky events, only one student, Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) remains. Teacher and student are accompanied only by the school cook, Mary Lamb (Da’vine Joy Randolph), and occasionally by the janitor, Danny (Naheem Garcia). As they all get to know each other better, their quirks and heartaches are exposed, and they form an uneasy family. But this is no Hallmark cheesefest. Director Alexander Payne and writer David Hemingson are interested in something more surprising and authentic than that, and everyone involved delivers.

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Review: Nearly 60 years later, RUSH TO JUDGMENT is still worth your time and attention

In 1967, Impact Pictures released Rush to Judgment, a documentary about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The film, by lawyer Mark Lane and filmmaker Emile de Antonio, is based on Lane’s book of the same name. Lane had been one of the earliest critics of the Warren Commission and its report, and had for a time represented Lee Harvey Oswald at the behest of Oswald’s mother. Both the book and the film were Lane’s attempt to provide a defense of Oswald, who was arrested within an hour of the shooting and murdered in police custody two days later.

Although there have been many non-fiction and fiction features, series, and TV shows about the tragic events in Dallas on November 22, 1963, Rush to Judgment has never been widely available in its complete form until now. A 4K digital restoration by the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theatre Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Sphinx Productions is being released by Films We Like, and it is a rewarding, if sometimes difficult, watch.

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Book Review: Charlie Chaplin vs. America is both shocking and familiar

Watching TCM recently, I saw a clip of Gloria DeHaven reminiscing about visiting Charlie Chaplin at his home when she was quite young. At first, she couldn’t connect the handsome guy who answered the door with the Little Tramp. She concluded, “I guess I was in love with two different people.” Certainly, this recognition of the dichotomy between Chaplin and his most famous creation resonated with me. It was my key takeaway from a 2014 biography of Chaplin, and it is a recurring theme in Charlie Chaplin vs. America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided by Scott Eyman. This new volume published by Simon & Shuster and available on October 31, is the story of how right-wing elements of the U.S. government and mainstream media conspired to essentially deport Chaplin from the U.S. in 1952. That may sound far-fetched, but Eyman brings the receipts. All the information in the book is meticulously sourced from a wide range of letters, articles, and government files. While Chaplin’s bifurcated personality certainly played a role in his troubles, the larger issue was a bunch of people who thought anyone who disagreed with them should be punished by shunning or exile and did everything in their power to make it happen. The tale is both shocking and shockingly familiar. More after the jump

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Rule, Britannia: My Favorite ‘Midsomer Murders’ Film Actors

Based on the novels by Caroline Graham, Midsomer Murders (MM) originally hit UK airwaves in 1997 and plans are in place for the 23rd and 24th seasons, which is a testament to its durability. For those who aren’t familiar with the show, it’s about Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby (there have been two), his assistants (six), and pathologists (five), who solve murder cases in the southern English county of Midsomer. Their families, friends, colleagues, neighbors, and suspects all figure in the rich tapestry of the show, which sometimes features weird and/or grisly means of death. The county is home to a wide variety of people, places, and activities including sports, arts, culinary, civic, and religious functions, which offer a wide variety of circumstances in which to kill or be killed. Folks don’t just get shot or stabbed in Midsomer. They get impaled on relics, beheaded, pelted by wine bottles, or smothered in concrete, to name just a few.

I’m a relatively recent convert to Midsomer Murders (MM), it was a welcome discovery in the early months of the pandemic. Aside from the idyllic beauty of the setting, the English eccentricity and pitch-black humo(u)r, and the lurid nature of the titular crimes, I love seeing actors turn up from other TV shows and movies. Whether they are on their way up or already established, Midsomer County attracts a lot of British thesps (and a few Americans). Since the Rule, Brittania Blogathon is about movies specifically, and I’m already breaking the rules by writing about a TV show (though in my defense its episodes are at least 90 minutes long), the following list focuses on 1) Brits who 2) I know and love from their feature films. The list is in no particular order and is by no means complete. In fact, it’s a tiny, completely arbitrary, sample of some of my favorite guest stars. Some plot points may be revealed, but I wouldn’t call them spoilers — MM is about the journey, not the destination. See who made the list after the jump!

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That’s News To Me: Big Brown Eyes (1936)

I was recently surprised to find, while perusing Criterion Collection’s Joan Bennett slate, there were actually TWO films I had not seen. And one had Cary Grant in it! I immediately settled in to watch Big Brown Eyes (1936).

Bennett plays Eve Fallon, a sassy manicurist in a hotel salon, whose boyfriend, Danny Barr (Grant), is a police detective. Eve hears a lot of conversation, which comes in handy when she quits her job and becomes a crusading reporter. Barr and one of Eve’s clients, private detective Richard Morey (Walter Pidgeon), are trying to find jewelry stolen from the wealthy Mrs. Cole (Marjorie Gateson, above left). When a baby is killed in the crossfire of a related dispute in Central Park, and those responsible go free, Eve and Danny go rogue to catch the killers. More after the jump

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11th Annual What A Character: Evening Edition

Hey night owls and West Coasters, Paula here to close out our 11th Annual What a Character! Blogathon! It always brings me so much joy to see so much love for the backbone of cinema, the supporting players. This year brought new points of view and new faces to these posts, which is always good to see.

Jacqueline at Another Old Movie Blog starts us off by paying tribute to underrated day player Mary Field‘s “ability to command a scene and entirely lose herself in a character.”

Karen at Shadows and Satin honors Jay C. Flippen, “the burly character actor…a man of fortitude and determination – a veteran of vaudeville, radio, theater, screen, and television.”

Kayla at Whimsically Classic details how “I Love Lucy” introduced her to “instantly recognizable” Allen Jenkins (on the right, with Errol Flynn.)

Taking Up Room recaps the life and career of Dorothy Morris, who “always made a big impression in her own quiet, pretty way.”

Wollfian Classic Movies Digest analyzes several of Peter Lorre‘s greatest performances: Casablanca, Mad Love, M, and The Maltese Falcon.

The Everyday Cinephile illustrates how Ernest Torrence “perfectly exemplifies the unique skill set required to succeed as a character actor.”

Thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s WAC! Blogathon, and to our beloved Turner Classic Movies for inspiring it in the first place. It’s been a fun and fascinating 11 years.

See the What A Character! morning posts at Once Upon A Screen here. Afternoon posts are at Outspoken and Freckled here.

Key to the What A Character! 2023 graphic

What a Character: Richard Erdman in CRY DANGER

Richard Erdman was born June 1, 1925, in Enid, Oklahoma, and was raised in Colorado Springs. After his high school drama teacher told him that he might have what it takes for movies, he and his mom moved to California, where he enrolled in Hollywood High. While still a teenager, he was offered and accepted a seven-year contract with Warner Brothers.

Erdman racked up 177 credits in his 73-year career, working as an actor for the better part of eight decades, and averaging at least a few roles per year, including a six-year stint on the TV series “Community” (2009-2015). As Slate pointed out when he passed away in March 2019, there were just seven (7) years between 1944 and 2017 that Erdman didn’t have at least one credit. He was a frequent guest at conventions and film festivals well into the 2010s and his “Community” character, Leonard, had his own YouTube channel. The LA Times characterized Erdman as “the consummate ‘that guy’ — a difficult-to-identify-but-recognizable supporting player,” but they forgot about his distinctive, croaky voice, one that I would know anywhere.

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Announcing the 11th Annual What A Character! Blogathon – Call for posts

It began eleven years ago with a spark of inspiration. What is the one thing that practically every film fan can agree on…the one thing that every cinephile looks forward to? What is the celluloid glue that holds us all together so dearly? Our love of character actors.

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From the earliest years of Turner Classic Movies (TCM), the network has broadcast “What A Character!” interstitial short tributes honoring various character actors. Many of the most popular supporting players have been highlighted over the years, including Marjorie Main, Edna May Oliver, Beulah Bondi, William Demarest, and Butterfly McQueen. These consummate pros were the inspiration for the WHAT A CHARACTER! Blogathon. Kellee, Aurora, and I decided to dedicate a blogathon to those invaluable talents who often stole the scene. Now, for the eleventh consecutive year, we continue the tradition. Details after the jump

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